Review of Fright Night (1985) by Stuart K — 16 Jan 2012

Written and directed by Tom Holland (Psycho II (1983) and Child's Play (1988)), this is an effective and well made horror film for it's day, it's got good special effects for it's day. It's got all you would expect from an 80's horror film, handmade special effects, and a rock soundtrack as well, and some genuine scares in it.

Teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a huge fan of horror films, in particular a slot of horror films on a TV show called Fright Night, hosted by Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). After a number of occurances, Charley discovers that his neighbour Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire.

He tries proving this to the police, but they don't believe him, and Charley's girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse) begins to fear he's gone insane. Charley even goes as far as going to Peter Vincent with his findings.

Vincent scorns him, but soon comes to believe him with help from a pocket mirror. Then, Jerry turns Charley's friend Ed Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys) into a vampire, and then it's up to Charley and Peter Vincent to save the day and kill Jerry before he causes any more havoc.

It's got some good moments of horror, and Sarandon plays the baddie well, and McDowell is simply wonderful, it has a good finale as well. It was remade in 2011 in 3D, but while that was played for black laughs, this was scary, but in a fun way.